Ah I see, thank you. How long do you suppose toothpics are necessary ? You say 3 days to catch roots. Do you ever have a problem removing the toothpic or does the HC really feel good in there ?

Hey, the toothpicks stay where they are..that's why I use non-bio-degradable ones.. the toothpicks are chopped from the top upto the surface level so no one can see em'... and in time the HC covers it..so it stays and shows no more..

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonathan

Also, what was your friends substrate you managed to carpet. Do you use root tabs or anything like that ?

He was using ADA Amazonia II, root tabs never..I use vermicompost as base layer no product other than that ever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincenz

Love the 3rd one in your original post. Looks so effortless!

Looks effortless..but trust me it was a PITA to get that slope..took me around 2 hours to get the slope right.. :P hehehe..but thank you very much..

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Abhradip Choudhuri
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.Few of my works

This scape is dedicated for another friend of mine. This is a low-tech tank filled with loads of Anubias,crypt and fern species. Base layer is laterite topped with golden sand.Please excuse the cloudy water - it's bound to happen with DIY substrate..:P will get clear off in a day or two.

Pic 1: FTS
Pic 2: From his kitchen door
Pic 3: Guess who liked my work - screenshot taken from facebook Year starts of with a bang!!

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Abhradip Choudhuri
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.Few of my works

I just noticed that subtle touch of light that you add to quite a few of your back drops. Looks really nice. Imagine having like one of those color changing fiber-optic wand things dangling around behind your tank.

at present there are two oto's and a few RCS in there..fish and shrimps for this tank are coming this month end..they are going to be all indian natives.. but i'm more of a plant guy..so my tanks only have plants at most times.

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Abhradip Choudhuri
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.Few of my works

Not the best of pics I have clicked till date..but here's an update to whoever were following the progress of the smallest tank I have ever scaped. This after 1 month of dry start..and on 3rd day after water fill up. it's running on DIY CO2 and 11W CFL light.. Plant list as of now in the tank - Xmas moss, fissidens, riccia, DHG, marsiliae minuta, weeping moss, anubias nana(micro), dwarf java fern and bucephalandra sp.(this exotic species was gifted to me). It's soon coming to it's first trim time..

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Abhradip Choudhuri
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.Few of my works

@binbin9: gel? did not get you..but as far as the light goes - the tank does not have a BG stuck to it, it's the wall from which the light is reflecting and for the orange hue - it's a simple 15W orange coloured night lamp that is kept

@svkr2k: Yes the tank that you did mention is having a DIY substrate, the bottom layer has a mix of laterite+soilrite+vermicompost in the ratio - 40:30:30 topped with simple golden construction sand. it's actually not my tank - I scaped it for a friend of mine my tanks always have commercially available substrate ie, controsoil and below that I in general add a mix of vermicompost and root tabs for long term nutrients for the plant. And since my tanks are high-tech in terms of pressurized system setup's but ferts that I use are nothing my agro-foliage based chemicals followed under EI technique. now one can ask me why do I use agro based ferts - well it gives me good results as the plant health states in the pic's and it's dirt cheap as well..

This is how I spent my last saturday night - got a crown tail for a dirt cheap price (Rs 40/- INR that's like little over 50 cent in USD) so thought why not make a tank out of it and give him a proper home. The tank has been gracefully gifted by a dear friend of mine who is an avid betta keeper.

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